From: rids@trilogy.com
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2000 2:08 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: What's in your food?


Dear Corporate and Government Leaders,

Genetically engineered food ingredients or crops should not be allowed on the market until: 

1) Independent safety testing demonstrates they have no harmful effects on human health or the environment, 

2) They are labeled to ensure the consumer's right-to-know, and 

3) The biotechnology corporations that manufacture them are held responsible for any harm.

I also strongly support the following: 
1) The labels are distinct - just like the big "FAT free" labels and not small print somewhere. 
2) Extend the requirements for "Organic Food" to exclude "genetically modified" food. In other words genetically modified food cannot be certified Organic. 
3) Allowing growth of genetically modified food will ultimately result in cross-breeding with natural food (via the natural breeding process.) Hence, ultimately over several hundred years the food will be permanently "polluted" by this genetically engineered food. There is no law which can avoid this from happening, unless there is a complete ban on genetically modified food. 
I strongly advocate passing of such a law, and would see the US government, for once think about its future generations and not about the deep-pockets of the biotechnology corporations! Think about it in terms of: " being able to eat food in its purest and natural form is an fundamental right of every animal in this world, including humans." Allowing genetically modified food to be produced fundamentally violates this right.

Being a former genetic engineer, I vehemently protest against using the knowledge to alter the purity of the food and potentially endanger every species in this world. 



Sincerely

Ridhdhish Amin
Austin, Texas 78731